CAMERON ACCUSED OF BETRAYING CHRISTIANS

There's plenty of coverage in the national media today of an article written by Lord Carey, former Archbishop of Canterbury, published in the Daily Mail. Immediately below is how the article is promoted on the Daily Mail's website, followed by the full text of the article itself.

Cameron accused of betraying Christians: Astonishing Easter attack on the PM by former Archbishop of Canterbury

Many Christians doubt David Cameron’s sincerity in pledging to protect their freedoms, former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey says today.

In an article for the Daily Mail, Lord Carey squarely accuses ministers of "aiding and abetting" discrimination against Christians.

He says he believes there is an "aggressive secularist and relativist approach" behind the Government plans to legalise gay marriage and says the Prime Minister has "done more than any other recent political leader" to "feed" Christian anxieties.

As a dramatic new poll released on the eve of Easter Sunday revealed that more than two-thirds of Christians feel they are now part of a "persecuted minority", Lord Carey insists the Government must do more to demonstrate its commitment to pledges to stand up for faith.

The survey suggests churchgoers increasingly feel religious freedoms are under assault from aggressive secularism. 

Critics say court rulings against Christians who want to wear crosses at work, and legal action preventing prayers before council meetings, have helped make people feel marginalised.

In the article, Lord Carey expresses particular alarm about apparent Government support for a campaign by Labour MP Chris Bryant to turn the 700-year-old Parliamentary chapel of St Mary Undercroft into a multi-faith prayer room so that gay couples can get married there.

But he also turns his fire on the Prime Minister, saying: "It was a bit rich to hear that the Prime Minister has told religious leaders that they should 'stand up and oppose aggressive secularisation' when it seems that his government is aiding and abetting this aggression every step of the way.

"At his pre-Easter Downing Street reception for faith leaders, he said that he supported Christians’ right to practise their faith. Yet many Christians doubt his sincerity."

The ComRes poll suggests there is continuing resentment over the Government’s decision to legalise same-sex unions, even though there is special protection for the Church of England in the law. 

More than half (58 per cent) of Christians who backed the Conservatives in 2010 suggested they will ‘definitely not’ vote for the party in 2015.

The ComRes poll of 535 regular churchgoers, commissioned by the Coalition for Marriage (C4M), reveals that more than two-thirds (67 per cent) of Christians feel that they are part of a ‘persecuted minority’.

The march of secularism means that if trends continue, Britain will no longer be a Christian country by 2030 when the number of non-believers will have overtaken the number of Christians.

In the past six years the number of Muslims has surged by 37 per cent to 2.6 million, Hindus by 43 per cent and Buddhists by a massive 74 per cent.

Numbers who choose to call themselves Christians fell by more than 4 million in a decade after 2001, the 2011 census showed. Fewer than six out of ten – 59.3 per cent – described themselves as Christian.

A decade ago nearly three quarters, 72 per cent, did so. Some 33.2 million people said they were Christian in 2011.

Downing Street strongly rejected Lord Carey’s attack. A spokesman said: "This government strongly backs faith and Christianity in particular, including backing the rights of people wanting to wear crosses at work and hold prayers at council meetings. Christianity plays a vital part in the Big Society."

Here's the text of Lord Carey's article in full, published in the Daily Mail today:

The PM's done more than any other leader to make Christians feel they're perescuted

I like David Cameron and believe he is genuinely sincere in his desire to make Britain a generous nation where we care for one another and where people of faith may exercise their beliefs fully.

But it was a bit rich to hear that the Prime Minister has told religious leaders that they should ‘stand up and oppose aggressive secularisation’ when it seems that his government is aiding and abetting this aggression every step of the way.

At his pre-Easter Downing Street reception for faith leaders, he said that he supported Christians’ right to practise their faith. Yet many Christians doubt his sincerity. According to a new ComRes poll more than two-thirds of Christians feel that they are part of a ‘persecuted minority’.

Their fears may be exaggerated because few in the UK are actually persecuted, but the Prime Minister has done more than any other recent political leader to feed these anxieties.

He seems to have forgotten in spite of his oft-repeated support for the right of Christians to wear the cross, that lawyers acting for the Coalition argued only months ago in the Strasbourg court that those sacked for wearing a cross against their employer’s wishes should simply get another job.

More shockingly, the Equalities Minister, Helen Grant, recently gave her support to the Labour MP Chris Bryant’s campaign to turn the 700-year-old Parliamentary chapel of St Mary Undercroft into a multi-faith prayer room so that gay couples can get married there. The Speaker of the House of Commons is reported to be supportive of the move.

Now, there are many questions that we need to ask. If this means the removal of Christian symbols from the chapel to accommodate all faiths and even humanist ceremonies this would amount to changing the chapel fundamentally, even to banishing the Christian faith from the seat of political power. This would have implications for Her Majesty, the Queen, and could place her in a very difficult position as the chapel is a Royal Peculiar under her direct patronage.

As David Cameron knows, I am very suspicious that behind the plans to change the nature of marriage, which come before the House of Lords soon, there lurks an aggressive secularist and relativist approach towards an institution that has glued society together for time immemorial.

By dividing marriage into religious and civil the Government threatens the church and state link which they purport to support. But they also threaten to empty marriage of its fundamental religious and civic meaning as an institution orientated towards the upbringing of children.

If this is not enough, the legislation fails to provide any protection for religious believers in employment who cannot subscribe to the new meaning of marriage. There will be no exemptions for believers who are registrars. They can expect to be sacked if they cannot, in all conscience, support same-sex marriage.

Strong legal opinion also suggests that Christian teachers, who are required to teach about marriage, may face disciplinary action if they cannot express agreement with the new politically-correct orthodoxy.

The danger I believe that the Government is courting with its approach both to marriage and religious freedom, is the alienation of a large minority of people who only a few years ago would have been considered pillars of society.

Today’s ComRes poll suggests that more than three-quarters of Christians believe that the Government is not listening. More than half of Christians who backed the Conservatives in 2010 say they will ‘definitely not’ vote for the party in 2015.

This continues the breakdown in trust between politicians and the people they serve.

Among these people are very many volunteers, school governors and public servants. In their churches they provide soup kitchens and advice centres, and many other valuable initiatives. They are the ‘big society’ which David Cameron was advocating until recently.

The Government risks entrenching a very damaging division in British society by driving law-abiding Christians into the ranks of the malcontents and alienated – of whom there are already far too many. 

UNKINDEST CUTS OF ALL FOR THE BIG SOCIETY

Jeremy Prescott has written the First Person column  in today's Leicester Mercury:

Unkindest cuts of all for the Big Society

Jeremy Prescott thinks councils cutting funding for charities is self-defeating

A year ago I wrote in this column that Big Society was in danger of failing through the funding cuts that the voluntary sector were facing. 

A recently leaked national report conducted by the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (Acevo) validates my fears. It states that the charitable sector is facing local authority and national government funding cuts of between £1 billion and £5.5 billion in this current financial year.

At a local level we have recently had news of Voluntary Action Melton facing closure at the end of March with many other charities such as Cruse Bereavement Service also on a survival knife edge.

Even closer to home the Rural Community Council (RCC), the charity which I lead, is facing funding cuts of 34 per cent from Leicestershire County Council, 62 per cent from Rutland County Council and 100 per cent cuts from Harborough and Melton District Councils. We are only managing to maintain our services by delving into our reserves which can only be sustained for a short time.

A recent questionnaire on the Big Society conducted by the RCC showed an alarmingly degree of negativity towards this government initiative. Many felt that it was a ploy of seeking volunteers to provide services, normally paid for by council taxes, on the cheap.

To give credit to Leicestershire County Council, they have allocated over £340,000 into a Big Society Grant Scheme to help small community groups turns their ideas into reality. I have always advocated that such funding is just part of an important jigsaw but what is equally important is that charities who provide the essential support to those small groups are funded to do just that.

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a meal; teach him to fish and you feed him for a lifetime" (Chinese Proverb).

For this reason I believe the balance of funding being provided to this grant scheme is wrong and this view is supported by 75 per cent of those surveyed in the Big Society questionnaire, advocating that charities should receive more funding from this Big Society pot.

These funding cuts are making it extremely difficult for us to provide support to those who need it.

It is accepted that local authorities are having to making huge savings themselves but I strongly feel that a way of helping them make such savings is actually to increase the amount of funding they provide to charities.

With the low running costs of charities (salaries and pensions) compared with the public sector, and the fact that we rely on the enormous goodwill of an army of volunteers who selflessly give up their time, this is certainly not the time to be cutting the voluntary sector.

Jeremy Prescott is Chief Executive of the RCC, a local charity supporting rural communities.

BIG SOCIETY: THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE UNEQUAL

At the Midland Hotel, Bradford, today for Big Society: The Good,The Bad & The Unequal. This national conference is hosted by JUSTWest Yorkshire and is jointly sponsored by them, Runnymede Trust, Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust and Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

We're welcomed by Ratna Lachman, Chief Exec of JUST West Yorkshire and Maureen Grant from Joseph Rowntree charitable Trust, who set the tone for the rest of the day. The conference focuses on four main areas:

• What does "fairness" mean in the context of Big Society?
• Can Big Society deliver racial justice?
• Does Big Society privilege the South over the North?
• Is Big Society a cover for big cuts?

This event also marks the publication of a new book (with the same title as the conference), to help inform discourse regarding Big Society, to interrogate Big Society agenda, particularly as it affects VCS organisations, practitioners and service users. The book provides systematic, intelligent critique, provides an alternate narrative rather than one of grudging acquiescence and makes no bones about the necessity of speaking truth to power.

There are three plenary presentations (all of which you can access, faithful reader, by clicking on the title below):

• Anna Coote (New Economics Foundation): Fairness and Equality in the Big Society
• Ed Cox (Institute of Public Policy Research): Two Geographies Divided by One Big Society
• Rob Berkeley (Runnymede Trust): The Colour of Big Society

After lunch, we also see a young people's video presentation on Big Society.

This is a very different affair from the conference I attended in London a month ago (see blog, Monday 30 January). That one was led by organisations who've obtained contracts and funding to deliver Big Society initiatives and projects, with speakers addressing many in the audience from organisations threatened by the Coalition's austerity regime - as well as by the plain and simple fact that those making decisions about development of the Voluntary and Community Sector just don't "get it". There was an undercurrent of anger and resentment at that event. It would be true to say that here, there's no undercurrent. Quite the opposite: it's more of a rallying cry. From a straw poll, I reckon I'm the only one who attended both conferences - and take it from me, there's quite a difference between the two!

BIG SOCIETY & EQUALITY CONFERENCE

To London today, for the Big Society and Equality Conference, hosted by the Women's Resource Centre (WRC) at the Human Rights Action Centre, Amnesty International UK, New Inn Yard.

The first person I see when I enter the conference room is Ian Robson, Director of the Leicester LGBT Centre and a fellow Core Partner on REDP. We silently mouth "What are you doing here?" to each other as I skirt my way through the tables to find the nearest free seat. I'm here representing both Leicester Council of Faiths and REDP. Ian's here for the LGBT Centre (and has to leave before the end of the morning sessions).

Around 40 organisations (mostly from the Voluntary and Community Sector) are represented here today, including:

• Age UK
• Ashiana Network
• Broadway Homelessness & Support
• Black & Ethnic Minority Working Group
• Community Action South East (CASE) Kent
• Churches Together in Britain and Ireland
• Community Network
• Disability Rights UK
• End Violence Against Women
• Eurinteg
• GFS Platform
• Hackney Women's Forum
• Harrow Women's Forum
• Her Centre
• Hillcroft College
• Irish Traveller Movement in Britain
• Leicester LGBT Centre
• LGBT Consortium 
• LVSC
• National Coalition Building Institute (NCBI)
• National Federation of Women’s Institutes (NFWI) 
• North East Women's Network
• Race on the Agenda (ROTA)
• Refugee Council
• REAP (Refugees in Effective & Active Partnership)
• Riverside Community Health Project
• Roma Support Group
• Shelter
• St Mungos (HMP Pentonville)
• Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust
• UN Women UK
• The Vassall Centre
• Women in Prison
• Women Wellbeing Association
• Women and Work

Introduction & welcome Vivienne Hayes, Chief Executive, Women's Resource Centre.

Overview of Big Society Sheila Battersby, Policy Manager, Local Intelligence Team, Office for Civil Society.

• The Big Society fits in with coalition agreements around decentralisation and localism and is about changing the role of central government.
• Nick Hurd, the Minister for Civil Society is leading on this programme of work.
• There are three pillars to the Big Society: community empowerment, social action and opening public services.
• This event is an opportunity for equalities organisations to feedback to Ministers on practical solutions to issues such as innovation, how to improve local democracy and so on.
• One of the aims of this research is to provide recommendations for an Office for Civil Society (OCS) report. These recommendations will be shared with the wider Cabinet Office.

Equalities and the Big Society Natalie Ntim, Policy Officer, Women's Resource Centre.

• Greater equalities awareness is needed amongst public bodies
• A survey by WRC acknowledged the lack of capacity within organisations to engage with the programmes within the three pillars.
• Case study of Equality Cumbria – a social enterprise made up of equalities networks that has supported 13 public bodies over the past three years in a variety of ways. They work in partnership but apply for contracts separately to cover their individual core costs.

Community First Grants Programme Ian Beason, Programmes Manager, Community Development Foundation.

The Community First Grants programme is an £80 million government-funded Big Society initiative. It aims to get people to give time, money, goods, services and facilities to improve the quality of life of local communities. The initiative replaces the last government’s Grassroots Grants programme which aimed to provide small grants for local community groups. However, rather than just awarding small grants to community projects, it requires government funding to be matched with community contributions. The programme aims to encourage community self-reliance; increase participation of all parts of the community; strengthen communities by identifying local priorities; and provide a source of grants in the future.

• The aim of the programme is to make communities better to live in.
• The Community First Grant is a neighbourhood level matched fund.
• Decisions of who receives funding are made by Community First Panels. Panels are self selecting and determine their local priorities. After a year, they’ll firm these up by creating a panel plan.
• Panels will nominate a Panel Partner- they will have to say that the panel is actually a representative group of the local population.
• Projects are match funded 1:1 – although the organisation does not have to match the amount purely in money terms, it could also be volunteer time for example.
• Over 250 panels have submitted applications already.
• The programme has links with other programmes and partners e.g. Community Organisers, Business Connectors, Community Foundation Network, Asda stores, youth orgs, local authorities etc.
• Q&A session:
• Q: Accountability of Panels? How will CDF manage any possible conflict of interest?
• A: Ian stressed the importance of website connection to panels, who will have to upload information about decisions made regarding funding. He said there is no specific equalities angle in this initiative and was unsure whether minutes displayed publicly will be obligatory.
• Q: How will CDF counteract homogenous panels and encourage representation of equalities?
• A: All local authorities have received a letter from CDF saying they should be representative. Local authorities generally haven’t sat on the panels in order to create distance between themselves and the decisions made. They don’t want to appear like they’re running the show to their own priorities. However, no equalities data is being collected on the membership of the panels.
• Any organisation can become a panel representative and organisations don’t have to be based in the ward or even be a constituted group.
• RECOMMENDATION: disaggregate panel membership by equalities data
• Q: What is the process for financial accountability?
• CDF are in charge of financial accountability. They then have to account to OCS.
• Delegate Comments:
• Harder and harder to get the most disadvantaged people to engage because it’s getting harder and harder to survive
• Website accountability – disadvantaged people less likely to use the internet
• Mistake to link equality and local level projects. Just because it’s local doesn’t mean it will be meeting equalities obligations. For example, LSPs were local and were also male dominated. Will be too late in a few years to see that all the panels are run by white men.

Local Integrated Services Victoria Westhorp, Policy Manager, Local Intelligence Team, Office for Civil Society; Martha Earley, Public Health Manager for Inequalities & Team Leader for Community Development, Royal Borough of Kingston.

Local Integrated Services is a new approach to delivering local services which brings together budgets and local assets (such as buildings) and puts communities in control of co-producing and commissioning the services that they need. It looks at ways to effectively use existing resources and explores the benefits of pooling budgets. The government supports the testing of community commissioning to see if it can produce better outcomes and create financial savings.

• Community commissioning is statutory commissioning devolved down to community level. It’s more about communities being involved in decision making about services rather than directly handing money to communities.  
• Past interventions (e.g. health action zones) focused on particular streets/areas of deprivation. The Marmot Review said that a universal approach benefits the poorest people more than specific interventions. So Kingston council wrote to the Cabinet Office to propose a new approach- working with everyone in the ward. Within this approach, the council identified the need to:
• Develop community voice.
• Pool money and resources for a single pot of money.
• Increase partnership work between individuals and agencies.
• The council ask the community what to focus on, without a pre-existing agenda. They used some previous research to find out what community members had already identified. There are monthly project meetings for all partners to get around the table. They have aimed to circumnavigating the segregation model- where someone is targeted just because they live on a particular estate - which stigmatizes people and discourages them from getting involved.

Community Organisers Programme Lawrence Walker, Programmes Officer, Locality

The Community Organisers Programme is a £15 million government-funded Big Society initiative. The programme aims to recruit and train 5,000 Community Organisers to help local communities come together to tackle social issues and develop community projects in deprived areas in England. The programme started in February 20112 and will run for the lifetime of this Parliament (until May 2015). Through the programme, government wants to strengthen community spirit; encourage participation of the local community; increase the effectiveness of existing community groups; create new community groups and social enterprises; and support communities to tackle local issues important to them.

• Q&A/Comments:
• What are the real costs of Community Organisers? Hosts will not be getting full cost recovery. Community development officers get paid more than the wages being paid to community organisers and they are very similar jobs.
• Q: Can anyone become an organiser and how do you recruit them?
• A: Yes anyone can become an organiser, follow the website and find a local host organisation to apply to.
• Q: How are the expenses of community organisers paid?
• A: Learning expenses are covered; the host provides liability insurance for the volunteers.
• Q: What connections do you have with previous community organiser projects?
• A: It refers back to previous community organiser projects, but the larger scale of the current movement means it’s an innovative new programme.
• Group Discussion:
• How could the Community Organisers programme benefit the groups that you work with?
• It is another way in which our organisations can have some form of influence
• One organisation said that they are being selective about which parts of the Big Society they engage with due to capacity and lack of finance. This organisation will not engage with community organisers as they are concerned about the legacy component- the political landscape is likely to change in 3 years’ time.
• What is wrong with existing voluntary sector work? Fantastic organisations already do this work e.g. in Barnet.
• Unsure as to what value the programme will bring to the sector, it seems the government are reinventing the wheel. We already know what people need, why we don’t use the money to fund what they need.
• Community organisers should be coming to the voluntary sector first rather than us having to engage with them. They should be aware of and build upon our work. --- Locality see the community organisers programme as complementing the work of the voluntary and community sector.
• Organisations are currently losing funding, expertise, knowledge and relationships. The organisations that would act as hosts are closing on a weekly basis. If the macro-level is taken away what use is developing the micro-level,
• Recommendations:
• Need to encourage those who don’t feel empowered to engage with the programme; need to support these groups to create a plan of the change they want to see.
• The programme needs to manage financial expectations. If there is no money after the initial community organisation programme, it will be difficult to achieve any long-term positive outcomes.
• Have organisers been CRB checked and how will you ensure they are protected if they are engaging with people in personal spaces, such as their homes?

By this stage in the proceedings there’s a negative atmosphere; a palpable air of anger, anxiety, depression, disappointment, disbelief, fear – I could go on. Suffice to say, a black cloud has been forming over the room, although it doesn’t seem to be overshadowing those on the platform or podium. The fellow sitting next to me has been responding to each new PowerPoint slide with a muttered, “Oh, for God’s sake!” After a while, I ask him if he’s aware he’s doing that, or if he thinks he’s just thinking it. Those taking advantage of the opportunities to ask questions and make comments become fewer and fewer. More people are just staring at their shoes or at the table tops; some have their heads in their hands.

I feel moved to comment at the end of this session (on the Community Organisers Programme). Bearing in mind the primacy of courtesy, and taking care to avoid giving the impression that this is any kind of ad hominem attack, I feel I have to take a few minutes to articulate what I believe most people in the room are thinking.

Addressing a group of patients who are struggling with a terminal illness and telling them that on top of that, they’re now expected to take on fostering duties.

Many of the people here today – and more people whom we know back in our communities and organisations – have worked over years (over decades in many cases) to develop a level of compassion, confidence, cooperation, courage, diplomacy, expertise, judgement, knowledge, rapport, sensitivity, sympathy, trust. Why should we be glad, grateful or thankful that the Coalition sees fit to jettison so many of these people and the organisations for which they work and that it offers something (in the form of the Community Organisers programme) that is a poor shadow of what we’ve spent all this time and effort developing? The creation of a stratum of Community Organisers as has been described today would be welcome if the sector as a whole is facing a collective death sentence.

I end by saying to the speaker that I don’t envy his position. I have no desire to “shoot the messenger” but I have to say that I wouldn’t be doing his job for all the tea in China.

As I'm leaving the venue at the end of the conference, one of the delegates wishes me farewell and hails me as the "William Wallace of the equalities world". I know that she's latching on to my Scottishness and my outspokenness but I can't help but be flattered by that - until I remember that William Wallace gets disembowelled at the end of Braveheart!

This event has vexed me for some time now. That’s partly why it took me ages to write this blog post. The reason why I found it so disturbing only became clear after I attended another national conference on Big Society a month later, in Bradford (see blog entry, Wednesday 29 February 2012). This event today was a showcase for those organisations which have won contracts to deliver Big Society initiatives; the Bradford conference was quite the opposite in tone.

The word "equality" is used often at this conference and in the material that accompanies it. But actions speak louder than words. It seems to me (and, from a straw poll of other attendees) that equality is conspicuous by its absence from the initiatives and programmes described here. It's well known that the Coalition has shifted government support from equality to "fairness". the latter could be said to be subjective. It's not enshrined in or protected by legislation, nor is it measurable - which makes it difficult, if not impossible, to see or state whether or not it's changing for better or worse. It could be said that from this side of the fence, there is no equalities agenda in Big Society (whatever that is, since by the end of today, we're none the wiser except to say that what we do see of it, we don't much like).

A word on the idea of "replicating innovative projects", a phrase that is used often today. Some of us support the notion that this is akin to being a butterfly collector: spotting something attractive and different in the wild, netting it, gassing it and pinning its dead body to a board for display behind glass.

MAPPING FAITH & PLACE: 2nd SEMINAR

At St Philip's Parish Church, Evington this morning for the latest seminar in the University of Leicester's Mapping Faith and Place project. Mapping Faith and Place is funded by the Art and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) within their funding stream, "Care for the Future: Thinking Forward Through the Past".

The core aim of the project is explore the significance of South Asian religions and cultural heritage in Leicester's urban landscape. The wider context for this work, of course, includes the other aspects of religious and cultural identity and life in the city. There's more to the diversity of Leicester in terms of faith and belief than just the South Asian representation - as the project acknowledges, both in these workshops and in its print and online publications.

This is the second of three seminars for this project. You can read earlier blog posts for the first seminar (which I didn't attend) and the launch event (which I did), both of which took place in October last year. The third seminar will be held at the University of Leicester on a date yet to be decided, followed by a final conference in the summer (although it's hoped that the project will continue beyond that period of initial funding).

Leicester Council of Faiths lent a hand at various stages of this project (although if we'd grasped how significant Mapping Faith and Place is, we'd surely have done more to help). We borrowed the two pop-up banners for our display at Highcross during Inter Faith Week a couple of months ago, when we also distributed many copies of the Leicester Faith Trail booklet. Members of staff (Dr Deirdre O'Sullivan and Dr Ruth Young - both of whom are here today) and students from the School of Archaeology and Ancient History took part in that exhibition. I'm returning the banners today.

Jen Dickson (Lecturer in Geography at the University of Leicester) kicks off the day's proceedings, outlining some key academic ideas relating to this second seminar. Today we're considering how people develop a relationship with a place, a sense of belonging to a place (and of a place belonging to you). This sense of identity is complex and contested. It's no longer tenable to believe in a discreet, fixed, lifelong identity (which leads only to stereotyping). It's not simply a case of having a single identity, made up of different elements, more a case of multiple identities, which change in relation to space and time; not so much about possessing particular characteristics, more about how we perceive ourselves, especially in relation to others.

Our senses and emotions help determine whether we feel included or excluded in a place or a community associated with it, attached to or detached from them (applies to places and/or objects near and/or far). This brings to mind the particular example of RNIB College Loughborough's Faith and Reflection Room (see blog entry, Friday 16 December2011).

We discuss how contemporary politicians are co-opting debates about belonging, inclusion and exclusion, manipulating power and/or processes that permit inclusion or exclusion, in relation to Big Society, volunteering or where it is or isn't acceptable to dress or behave in certain ways (e.g. wearing the burka). We consider how individuals and groups resist such manipulation in modern society (e.g. Occupy movement)

There are 18 attendees here today, of mixed ages, backgrounds, cultures, faiths and traditions (though I'm sorry to note that there's no one from the Jain Centre or the Nagarjuna Kadampa Buddhist Centre, since they're both such prominent faith sites in the city centre). We’ve each been asked to bring an object with us that connects us to somewhere sacred. Now, I’m sure I don’t need to explain here that "sacred" means "set apart". This seminar is about sacred places, but it also helps shows us in what ways all sorts of things could be considered sacred. That can include things more abstract, including ways of being or doing, feeling, speaking and thinking. It could even be a narrative (I like that - it means even my blog could be considered sacred!)

The Leicester Bahá'í community has no public centre or place of worship these days, although I do mention on occasions such as this that the Bahá'ís had their own official meeting place in New Walk for several years from 1957, before there was a single gurdwara, mandir or mosque in Leicester. Despite this present lack (and without mentioning the historical anomaly) the Bahá'í Faith has its own page in the Leicester Faith Trail booklet published as one of the outcomes of this project.

Similarly, Bahá'ís tend to be "artifact-light" (I just made that up, but I'm sure you get my meaning) at least of the kind that fit into the typical resource boxes you might find in schools or museums. There's little to put in display cases in settings such as the St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art in Glasgow for example. There's irony here, inasmuch as the Bahá'ís were one of the most enthusiastic and supportive organisations behind the creation of the museum, but once the decision was made to concentrate on artifacts and objects, then it was a foregone conclusion that they'd be virtually excluded from representation in it.

Bahá'ís have always had a very rich historical self-awareness, consciously collecting, deliberately preserving and systematically archiving material items of all sorts. This is done nationally, internationally and locally, as anyone who has visited the International Archives at the Bahá'í World Centre on Mt Carmel, or has seen items from the British Bahá'í community's archives collection, such as those put on display at the National Bahá'í Centre in London during the recent celebration of the centenary of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's first visit Britain (see blog entry, Saturday 17 September 2011) will know.

But these are sacred items, relics, one-offs; they may amaze, inspire or thrill Bahá'ís but may appear trivial or incomprehensible to others. They aren't things used every day, nor are they everyday things that are used by Bahá'ís in their practice, individually or collectively.

So, within the parameters of the Mapping Faith and Place project, in what sense are the Bahá'ís a community when, for the most part, there are no physical centres, no meeting places for collective worship, when they gather in each others' homes or in rented or borrowed venues? I long ago understood (in my own limited capacity) what it means to be a community of common commitment, of ideas, of love for the same Beloved. We can be the exception that proves the rule here.

When I arrive this morning, Revd. John Hall has thoughtfully collected a small number of Bahá'í books and leaflets from the library in the St Philip's Centre next door and laid them out on display, in case I wanted to draw on them today. That's as close to artifacts as Bahá'ís ever get!

The kind of objects people have brought with them today include books, items of clothing, physical artifacts ancient and modern, original or replica, photos etc.

When we're called on to do pairs work about our object, I'm teamed with Surinder Pal Singh, General Secretary of Guru Tegh Bahadur Gurdwara, East Park Road. While he doesn't have any one particular object with him, he describes how the five Ks are the objects of belonging and identity, not attached to any particular place, but which he takes with him everywhere - which make his whole body a sacred site.

We're asked to consider the following questions in relation to the personal object we've brought with us today:

1. How does it represent you?
2. What aspects of your identity in particular does it highlight?
3. What does it say about you personally and as a member of a community?
4. How does it represent your relation to Leicester?
5. How might it represent identity in the past, present and to future generations?
6. If it does not represent past, present or future identities, why not? What object would?

I had no trouble choosing my object for this exercise today. When I asked Clare to guess what it would be, she said, "I bet it's your bloomin' iPhone!" And it is. Here are a few of the reasons why this is the object I've brought to this event today. I'm not expecting anyone else to agree with me (or even to understand my explanations):

• Google Maps. I prefer to walk wherever I can in Leicester. Even if it takes an hour or more, I'd rather walk. I would describe myself as a flaneur. Baudelaire defines the flaneur as "someone who walks the city in order to experience it." This is definitely the case when going to (and often returning from) the 19 Day Feast. Beware any routes described by Google Maps as "beta versions". "Use with caution" indeed. First time I looked up the walking route to one venue for the 19 Day Feast and it sent me one way that took more than 45 minutes. Next time, it showed me a route that took 24!
• Podcasts. I usually listen to podcasts of Astronomy Cast on my iPhone while on my way to the Feast. 'Abdu'l-Bahá instructs us that, "before entering [the Feast] free yourselves from all that you have in your heart, free your thoughts and your minds from all else save God, and speak to your heart". Odd as it may sound to you, faithful reader, listening to my favourite podcast, about the origin, history, present condition and future of the universe helps give me a sense of my place in the scheme of things. I don't see how anyone could attend to such matters and still consider themselves the centre of creation. It's like the Total Perspective Vortex from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (but in a good way!)
• Twitter. I can connect with Bahá'ís in other places, who are similarly anticipating or preparing for their 19 Day Feast, or who may recently have held theirs. It's not just those Bahá'ís whom I follow on Twitter or who follow me; I find the unpredictability, the randomness, not knowing who will see or respond to the hashtags #Bahai or #19dayfeast while on my way to the Feast genuinely intriguing and connecting.

I'd like to think that this will connect with the topic of the next seminar, which will consider how new technologies can be used to represent place.

After lunch, we further explore the articulation of identities, specifically religious identities, through the mind, body and the senses. We ask:

1. How are religious identities articulated in private home spaces through food and fasting; dress; music; dance; ritual practices?
2. How can religious identities or belief systems be articulated though the body in public spaces?
3. How can religious identities or belief systems be articulated through time and place in public and private spaces (e.g. birth; coming of age; marriage; death)?

It seems to be taken for granted by those participating in this part of the seminar that the challenge facing religious people today is that of maintaining practices or traditions exemplified and transmitted in the home and family, against the malign influence of a changing society, maintaining momentum gained over generations. There were fewer thinking of how many people, newly awakened to the religious life (or who switch religious affiliation) are challenged to establish new practices, for oneself and/or one's children, from a standing start. So I challenge that first assumption (in typically courteous fashion, of course).

In the photo above: Dr Chris King (who began the processes that have led to the Mapping Faith and Place project at the University of Leicester, but is now attached to the University of Nottingham); Dr Deirdre O'Sullivan; Jen Dickson; Dr Dr Viv Golden; Dr Ruth Young.

RETURN TO BASIC VALUES HELPS IN DIFFICULT TIMES

Ramanbhai Barber's First Person column from today's Leicester Mercury:

Return to basic values helps in difficult times 

Ramanbhai Barber issues an invitation to everyone to celebrate the Hindu festival of Diwali 

Diwali is by far one of the most important festivals in the Hindu calendar. It is of great religious, cultural, social and commercial importance. People look forward to Diwali all year around. 

Diwali is a time of feasting and celebration. People come together and share food, time and exchange gifts. 

People come together to pray for prosperity for the New Year. 

In the current economic times, when the unemployment rate is at the highest level for years, inflation is painstakingly high and fuel prices are going through the roof, many of us will be, no doubt, curbing our spending this Diwali. 

Basic commodities are not as affordable. As a community, we need to come together and share what we have. We need to share our joys to forget our sorrows. 

Sharing is a key feature of Diwali. Families and friends come together to share food, to share time, to share happiness. 

Material goods do not equate to happiness (unfortunately this is the view we are slapped with by our consumer society). Religious festivals are about connecting with God, connecting with one another. This is not done by spending lots and "keeping up with the Jones". This is done by being humble and respecting every individual and sharing joy. 

No doubt we face hard times ahead of us and the more disadvantaged will be the hardest hit. If we rekindle our community spirit and reinstate our basic values we will be able to ride out this difficult time. 

The message from our Mandir this Diwali is simple living does mean high thinking. We need to re-evaluate our lives, our needs and our desires as we cannot continue to live the lavish lifestyles many are used to. 

We need to live a sustainable lifestyle. This way we will all be happy and we will all be able to support one another. This is what the Big Society should be about: The every day person and their important role as a citizen, as a human, as a member of society. 

Diwali this year is celebrated today and New Year tomorrow. You all are cordially invited to come and celebrate Diwali with us at Shree Sanatan Mandir. 

Nutan Varshabhinandan – Happy New Year to all. 

Ramanbhai Barber, MBE, is President of Shree Sanatan Mandir, Leicester.

INTER-FAITH WORK SHOWS THE BIG SOCIETY IN ACTION

Suleman Nagdi has written the First Person column in today's Leicester Mercury:

Inter-faith work shows the Big Society in action 

Suleman Nagdi reflects on projects that help to make our city stand out from the rest 

Riaz Ravat's first person article (Mercury, September 15) was an excellent description of his efforts through St Philip's Centre at working with people of diverse backgrounds. I say this by virtue of my association with Riaz, whom I hold in high regard, and the article truly represents his honest views about how we can build a city which stands out from the rest. 

The Sewa Day effort to help elderly people from the African Caribbean community who are often forgotten and helped build key services we now take for granted, is a project which is rooted in the best traditions and values of Britain. 

There are those voices out there who may throw doubt on inter-faith work but we need to convince them that their doubts should be put aside so that they can witness the immense confidence-building work which communities do for vulnerable individuals every day of the week. This is the Big Society at its best. It is alive and kicking. Last year I had the pleasure of working with Riaz and our Jewish friends for Mitzvah Day. 

As a Muslim representing the Federation of Muslim Organisations (FMO) it was poignant for me to stand with volunteers from all faiths and none, outside supermarkets collecting toiletries for people suffering domestic violence. 

I fondly recall our gathering in the Jewish communal hall to assess our collections which were staggering. I am proud to say that already this year, even before the Mitzvah Day campaign has been launched, that the FMO and the Islamic Society of Britain whose "Eat n Meet" campaign was endorsed by the imams and Bishop of Leicester, have offered their support. 

Last October when our relations were tested, Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and those of other faiths and beliefs stood shoulder to shoulder with Muslims on a day when our city was challenged. The recent riots highlighted just how vital it is for us to renew our commitment to British values. In these most testing of economic times, when many members of our local community have fallen on hard times due to the cuts made by the Government, strong community and inter-faith work is needed more than ever so that we may all support each other to face the many and varied challenges that we all face in today's society. 

Let us take a page from Riaz's book to show how our young generation can be great visionaries for our nation. Riaz's vocation brings to mind the Qur'anic verse 49:13 which reads: "O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female and made you into nations and tribes that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise each other). Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And Allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things)." 

Suleman Nagdi is spokesman for the Federation of Muslim Organisations.

Suleman is a long-standing member of Leicester Council of Faiths. I'm sorry to see that he does not mention the Council of Faiths in this article.

FOCUSING ON OUR COMMITMENT TO EACH OTHER

Riaz Ravat has written the First Person column in today’s Leicester Mercury: 

Focusing on our commitment to each other 

Riaz Ravat looks at Sewa Day, an inter-faith charity event which brings people together 

In a few days, volunteers from a number Leicester's Indian-rooted faith communities, will come together for a special Sewa Day event. "Sewa" originates from the Indian language of Sanskrit and the concept invokes a spirit of community and selfless service for a just and fair society. It is promoted by different cultures and faiths but the core belief is the same – to sacrifice your time and resources for the benefit of others without wanting anything in return. In this age of the "Big Society", Sewa Day makes a key contribution. 

Leicester would not be Leicester unless we deliver Sewa Day in our own unique and cosmopolitan style. This is why for us the day is anchored in the wider inter-faith context of the city. It is all too easy to run campaigns for individual faiths, by individual faiths. Rather, we have established a special partnership which includes several Gurdwaras, Hindu groups, a Buddhist Temple, an Indian restaurant, as well as individual volunteers from the Buddhist, Hindu and Sikh communities. 

Our project, "Talk over Tea", will involve engaging and entertaining elderly members of the African Caribbean community. Not only are we sharing food and socialising with one of society's most isolated and vulnerable groups but we are also building relational bridges between people of different backgrounds. 

There will be so many conversations to explore, such as discovering each others' cultures, faiths, life experiences, traditions and, of course, diets! It seems like a simple idea, which it is, but it doesn't often happen very often. That's why we need a focus and Sewa Day gives us that opportunity to stop and think about our commitment to each other. 

Although Sewa Day is a relatively new initiative, it is nevertheless, a reminder about the long-standing efforts made by Buddhists, Hindus and Sikhs to the social fabric of the UK. 

Charity is part and parcel of these major faiths and is delivered in temples and communities every single day of the week. Sewa Day is just one of many faith-based social action initiatives run each year. In November, the Christian-Muslim Dialogue Group will run its 10th annual charity dinner. 

St Philip's Centre with its Christian heritage has co-ordinated the distinctive effort for Sewa Day. There is a precedent for how people of one faith can engineer charity efforts which are based in other traditions. Last year we launched Leicester's first-ever Mitzvah Day campaign. Mitzvah is a Hebrew word meaning "good deed" and our partnership with the Jewish community and other faiths of the city once again demonstrated our common endeavour, which is to utilise the best that each of our faiths offer to serve wider society. 

Sewa Day – next Thursday – will show that when Leicester contributes, it makes a difference by being different. 

Riaz Ravat is based at St Philip's Centre, Leicester.

Learning a few home truths from the riots

Here's the First Person column from today's Leicester Mercury:

Learning a few home truths from the riots 

Riaz Ravat considers the repercussions of the violent events of England's 'Angry August' 

While the country reflects on the actions of indignant and unrepentant gangs who have destroyed livelihoods and in some cases more sickeningly, taken innocent lives, the post mortem into "Angry August" has already begun. However, the riots must be seen within a much wider context of what defines the nation. 

A day after the disturbances, St Philip's Centre organised for a group of faith workers to come together to show solidarity with traders and police in the city centre. Over decades, many residents of our city have worked tirelessly to create and uphold our reputation as not only a diverse city but also a resilient one. We were supposed to be different. The faith communities' public show of unity sent a message to the violent perpetrators: You can hurl rocks but you can't harm our resolve. 

The police who deserve our wholehearted support have been hamstrung by a culture of fear. We owe them gratitude for their bravery and commitment to maintaining order. Some politicians, however, need to stop the political "ping pong" and give the police and our justice system the apparatus required to arrest and convict those who have defamed our city and country. The courts need to re-inject public confidence through appropriate sentencing. 

Those who have looted, damaged properties, destroyed essential charity services, killed innocent citizens and terrorised others have benefited from a deregulated society which has struggled to define what it stands for and what its vision is. This vacuum has created a "concierge culture" where responsibility lies elsewhere rather than beginning at home. 

A particular contrast is with the people of North Africa and Arabia. Many of whom are losing their lives daily. While they fight for freedom, the rioters here console themselves with flatscreens and Rolex watches. They have rejected dictatorships while we have embraced designer labels. They have demanded the tools of democracy while we have blunted ours. This contrast is vivid but brings home several home truths about the materialistic, egotistic society we've created. 

While some rioters may have escaped the law, they have been apprehended by the law of unintended consequences. A song dear to my heart reads "At the end of the storm there's a golden sky". The efforts of the community clean-ups in Clapham and the Sikh community protecting Mosques in Southall have highlighted that we may well have accidentally fallen upon the Prime Minister's vision of the Big Society, the irony being that this has been achieved without a penny of Government investment. The usually cumbersome and inconspicuous British have rediscovered their confidence and commitment to each other in the face of aggression. 

Riaz Ravat is based at St Philip's Centre in Leicester.

REDP briefing no. 5

At Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living (LCIL) this morning, where I'm helping present a briefing on the work of the Regional Equality and Diversity Partnership (REDP). This is the fifth in a series of six meetings held over the past few weeks. The others have been held in Derby (Wed 20 July), Wellingborough (27 July), Nottingham (28 July), Oakham (Wed 03 Aug) and one more to be held in Grantham. All in all, there are eight organisations represented here today:

• Disability Nottinghamshire
• Genesis / LAMP Direct
• Good Thinking
• Human Rights and Equalities Charnwood
• Leicester Council of Faiths
• Leicester Deaf Action Group
• Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living
• Loughborough Women's Aid
• The Race Equality Centre

Up till now the briefings have been conducted by Chino Cabon, Policy Officer at  The Race Equality Centre (TREC) and Kelly Jussab, Project Officer at REDP. Kelly has a family obligation today and has asked me to deputise for her.

Each of these meetings has been hosted by a member of REDP's Core Reference Group from that locality. Today's host is Leicester Deaf Action Group (with assistance from two members of Signing Network). Oas from LDAG opens the meeting, giving us a historical overview and an outline of the future prospects of their user-led organisation.

I give a beginners' guide to REDP, Chino speaks about the Equality Act 2010 (concentrating on the terminology used in the Act and its relationship with previous anti-discrimination legislation) then I'm back up front to present on the Localism Bill and Big Society.

The whole thing takes about three hours (including lunch) and I'm glad to say we get some positive evaluations from the attendees.